Four departments in Shenzhen: Focus on breakthroughs in high-end general-purpose chip design such as CPU, GPU, DSP, and FPGA

Today (6), Shenzhen Development and Reform Commission, Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission, Shenzhen Industry and Information Technology Bureau, and Shenzhen State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission issued the "Shenzhen Action Plan for Cultivating and Developing Semiconductor and Integrated Circuit Industry Clusters (2022-2025)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan").

The plan proposes that by 2025, the industry's revenue will exceed 250 billion yuan, with more than three companies with revenue exceeding 10 billion yuan and a group of design companies with revenue exceeding 1 billion yuan. Three manufacturing companies with revenue exceeding 2 billion yuan will be introduced and cultivated, the integrated circuit industry's level will be significantly improved, and the industrial structure will be more reasonable.

《计划》指出，要建成较大规模生产线，设备、材料、先进封测等上下游环节配套完善，形成从衬底、外延到芯片制造到器件应用完整的宽禁带半导体产业链条。到2025年，产业链国产化水平进一步提升，本地产业链配套和协作能力显著增强。 

In terms of high-end chip breakthroughs, the Plan emphasizes the need to focus on breakthroughs in the design of high-end general-purpose chips such as CPU, GPU, DSP, and FPGA, and to develop special chips such as artificial intelligence chips and edge computing chips. Driven by the 5G communications industry, comprehensive breakthroughs will be made in core chips such as RF front-end chips, baseband chips, and optoelectronic chips. Focus on pan-IoT applications such as smart "terminals" and promote the rapid industrialization of ultra-low power special chips and NB-IoT chips. Focusing on emerging industries such as smart cars, actively cultivate upstream chip supply chains such as lidar. Strengthen support for design companies' tape-outs.

The following is the full text of the Plan:

All relevant units:

In order to implement the spirit of the "Opinions of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government on Developing and Strengthening Strategic Emerging Industry Clusters and Cultivating and Developing Future Industries", accelerate the cultivation of strategic emerging industry clusters of semiconductors and integrated circuits, seize the commanding heights of a new round of industrial development, and enhance the core competitiveness of the industry, this action plan is specially formulated based on the relevant national and provincial industrial plans and the actual situation of our city.

I. General Situation

(I) Development status. The semiconductor and integrated circuit industry mainly includes chip design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, as well as related raw materials, production equipment and parts. Shenzhen is one of the distribution centers, application centers and design centers for semiconductor and integrated circuit products in my country. In recent years, the industry has maintained a rapid development trend. In 2021, the main business income of Shenzhen's integrated circuit industry exceeded 110 billion yuan. It has major innovation platforms such as the National Integrated Circuit Design Industrialization Base, the National Third Generation Semiconductor Technology Innovation Center, and the National Demonstration Microelectronics College. The industrial ecology is constantly improving, and industrial agglomeration has begun to take shape.

(II) Existing problems. First, the scale of the integrated circuit manufacturing industry needs to be improved and cannot meet the needs of industrial development; second, the external dependence of industrial software, production equipment and key materials is relatively high; third, the layout of major functional platforms needs to be strengthened, and common industrial problems need to be solved as soon as possible; fourth, there are not enough professionally planned integrated circuit industrial parks.

(III) Advantages and opportunities. First, Shenzhen has rich upstream and downstream resource advantages, with outstanding upstream design capabilities and a wide range of downstream application scenarios; second, Shenzhen has a high degree of market-oriented allocation of innovation factors and a flexible mechanism for selecting and employing personnel, which is convenient for gathering high-end talents and conducive to accelerating technological innovation and transformation of results; third, the country continues to increase its support for the integrated circuit industry, providing Shenzhen with a good opportunity to cultivate and develop semiconductor and integrated circuit industry clusters.

2. Work Objectives

By 2025, an influential semiconductor and integrated circuit industry cluster will be built, the industry scale will increase significantly, key links such as manufacturing, packaging and testing will reach the domestic leading level, the linkage and coordination of the industrial chain will be further strengthened, the independent innovation capability will be further enhanced, and outstanding comparative advantages will be formed in key products and technologies. A number of key core technologies will be broken through, a number of backbone enterprises and innovation platforms will be formed, and a number of professional integrated circuit industrial parks will be built to support and lead the high-quality development of the city's strategic emerging industries.

(I) The scale of the industry continues to grow. By 2025, the industry revenue will exceed 250 billion yuan, more than three companies with revenue exceeding 10 billion yuan and a number of design companies with revenue exceeding 1 billion yuan will be formed, and three manufacturing companies with revenue exceeding 2 billion yuan will be introduced and cultivated. The level of the integrated circuit industry will be significantly improved, and the industrial structure will be more reasonable.

(II) Obvious advantages in technological innovation. The overall design level has entered the leading camp, the manufacturing capacity has leading competitiveness, and the wide bandgap semiconductor technology capabilities provide strong support for key application areas. By 2025, the R&D investment intensity of key enterprises in the design industry will exceed 10%, the density and quality of invention patents will be significantly improved, the market share of domestic EDA software will be further improved, a number of key technologies will be transformed and applied in batches, a complete talent introduction and training system will be formed, and more than 5 public technology service platforms will be built.

（三）产业链条更加完善。建成较大规模生产线，设备、材料、先进封测等上下游环节配套完善，形成从衬底、外延到芯片制造到器件应用完整的宽禁带半导体产业链条。到2025年，产业链国产化水平进一步提升，本地产业链配套和协作能力显著增强。

（四）园区建设成效显著。到2025年，规划建设4个以上专业集成电路产业园，形成“重点突出、错位协同”的集成电路产业发展空间格局。

III. Key Tasks

(I) Make every effort to enhance the ability to tackle core technologies. Continue to promote R&D plans in key areas, carry out technical research in key materials, core equipment and components, support the development of EDA full-process design tool systems, achieve breakthroughs in core chip products, increase the market share of high-end chips, and explore the development of new architecture chips. Encourage qualified units to undertake major projects, major technical research plans and key R&D plans. (The Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Science and Technology Innovation Commission and relevant district governments are responsible according to their respective duties)

（二）着力构建安全稳定产业链条。落实强链稳链补链，支持产业链设计、制造、封测各环节突破短板、优化提质，显著增强产业链竞争力。鼓励技术先进的IDM企业和晶圆代工企业新建或扩建研发和生产基地，重点布局12英寸硅基和6英寸及以上化合物半导体芯片生产线。大力引进先进封装测试生产线和技术研发中心，紧贴市场需求加快封装测试工艺技术升级和产能提升。（市发展改革委、科技创新委、工业和信息化局及相关区政府按职责分工负责）

(III) Focus on enhancing the advantages of industrial collaboration. Strengthen the level of industrial support services, expand the industrial service platform, build a number of industrial common technology research and development platforms, improve the investment and financing environment, increase financial support, give play to the leading and driving role of state-owned capital industry, establish a municipal integrated circuit industry investment fund, focus on supporting the introduction of major basic, strategic, and leading projects in the city, cultivate a number of high-quality new companies to go public, and form a strong synergy for industrial development. (The Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Finance Bureau, the Science and Technology Innovation Commission, the Industry and Information Technology Bureau, the Local Financial Regulatory Bureau and the relevant district governments are responsible according to their respective duties)

(IV) Build a high-quality talent guarantee system. Implement more active, open and effective talent policies, adhere to the simultaneous introduction and cultivation of talents, introduce a group of high-level professional talents, jointly cultivate professional talents at all levels through government, industry, academia and research, plan and build professional institutes and training institutions in the semiconductor field, strengthen the support of the talent team, and create a highland for the gathering of integrated circuit talents. (The Municipal Talent Work Bureau, Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, Education Bureau and relevant district governments are responsible for the division of responsibilities)

(V) Create high-level characteristic industrial parks. We will increase the preparation of industrial land, improve the efficiency of land transfer approval, provide specialized industrial space, and build a number of characteristic integrated circuit industrial parks with concentrated elements, complete supporting facilities, and active innovation in key areas based on the development foundation and advantages of the integrated circuit industry in each district of our city, combined with industrial trends and the strategic positioning of each district, to promote the agglomeration and development of the integrated circuit industry. (The Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Planning and Natural Resources Bureau, and the relevant district governments are responsible according to their respective duties)